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GNA Says Accepts Negotiations to Find Peaceful Solution to Libya's Crisis

Government of National Accord (GNA) forces (File photo: AFP)
Government of National Accord (GNA) forces (File photo: AFP)
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GNA Says Accepts Negotiations to Find Peaceful Solution to Libya's Crisis

Government of National Accord (GNA) forces (File photo: AFP)
Government of National Accord (GNA) forces (File photo: AFP)

Head of Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) Fayez al-Sarraj announced accepting to launch negotiations with the leader of Libyan National Army (LNA) Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar.

Sarraj called for a new road map which includes holding general elections or modifying the controversial Skhirat agreement.

In a surprising statement issued Tuesday, he welcomed all political initiatives that call for a peaceful solution to the current crisis, praising the sacrifices and victories of his forces. He stressed the need to unify the ranks.

Sarraj called upon all parties and political forces to end the division and resume political dialogue, under the auspices of the United Nations. He hoped this would help prepare for the next stage and lead to an agreement on a comprehensive road map and a political path that brings all Libyans together.

Meanwhile, LNA’s 134th Infantry Battalion charged with protecting and securing al-Watiyah base, announced the death of its leader Ousama Msek during an attack launched by the Sarraj forces on the base.

Before his death, Msek said that the enemy had been defeated after trying to advance towards the base from al-Aqrabiyah. The forces thwarted the attack launched by Chadian militia, mercenaries, and Turks on al-Zareer region, west of the base.

He pointed out that violent clashes broke between the army forces and militias.

Later, Volcano of Rage Operation, led by forces loyal to GNA, announced that it killed the commander of al-Watiyah base and took control over an armored military vehicle, and destroyed 10 others, during its attack.

In other news, Audit Bureau in Tripoli announced that one of its employees was kidnapped by armed militias affiliated with GNA’s Interior Ministry.

The Bureau issued a statement saying the director of the General Administration of Financial Supervision of the Public Sector, Reda Qurqab, was kidnapped to prevent him from monitoring some of the ministry's transactions and bank accounts.

The Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha accused the Audit Bureau of political blackmail, asserting the employee was arrested and interrogated. He indicated that the results of the investigation will be presented to the public prosecutor which will reveal “corruption and extortion” practiced by the Bureau.

Bashagha also accused the Bureau of covering corruption over the past years and trying to prevent the ministry from exposing corruption and conducting financial audits.

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A British TV Art Expert Who Sold Works to a Suspected Hezbollah Financier is Sentenced to Prison

FILED - 27 October 2023, Iran, Chomein: A woman sorts flags of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia in a factory. Photo: Arne Immanuel Bansch/dpa
FILED - 27 October 2023, Iran, Chomein: A woman sorts flags of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia in a factory. Photo: Arne Immanuel Bansch/dpa
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A British TV Art Expert Who Sold Works to a Suspected Hezbollah Financier is Sentenced to Prison

FILED - 27 October 2023, Iran, Chomein: A woman sorts flags of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia in a factory. Photo: Arne Immanuel Bansch/dpa
FILED - 27 October 2023, Iran, Chomein: A woman sorts flags of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia in a factory. Photo: Arne Immanuel Bansch/dpa

An art expert who appeared on the BBC's Bargain Hunt show was sentenced Friday to two and a half years in prison for failing to report his sale of pricey works to a suspected financier of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group.
At a previous hearing, Oghenochuko Ojiri, 53, had pleaded guilty to eight offenses under the Terrorism Act 2000. The art sales for about 140,000 pounds ($185,000) to Nazem Ahmad, a diamond and art dealer sanctioned by the UK and US as a Hezbollah financier, took place between October 2020 and December 2021. The sanctions were designed to prevent anyone in the UK or US from trading with Ahmad or his businesses, The Associated Press said.
Ojiri, who also appeared on the BBC’s Antiques Road Trip, faced a possible sentence of five years in prison in the hearing at London’s Central Criminal Court, which is better known as the Old Bailey.
In addition to the prison term, Justice Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said Ojiri faces an additional year on license — a period of time after a prison sentence ends when an offender must stay out of trouble or risk going back to prison.
She told Ojiri he had been involved in a commercial relationship “for prestige and profit” and that until his involvement with Ahmad, he was “someone to be admired.”
“You knew about Ahmad’s suspected involvement in financing terrorism and the way the art market can be exploited by someone like him," she said. "This is the nadir — there is one direction your life can go and I am confident that you will not be in front of the courts again.”
The Met’s investigation into Ojiri was carried out alongside Homeland Security in the US, which is conducting a wider investigation into alleged money laundering by Ahmad using shell companies.
“This prosecution, using specific Terrorism Act legislation, is the first of its kind and should act as a warning to all art dealers that we can, and will, pursue those who knowingly do business with people identified as funders of terrorist groups,” said Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command.
Ahmad was sanctioned in 2019 by the US Treasury, which said he was a prominent Lebanon-based money launderer involved in smuggling blood diamonds, which are mined in conflict zones and sold to finance violence.
Two years ago, the UK Treasury froze Ahmad’s assets because he financed Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shiite militant organization that has been designated an international terrorist group.
Following Ojiri's arrest in April 2023, the Met obtained a warrant to seize a number of artworks, including a Picasso and Andy Warhol paintings, belonging to Ahmad and held in two warehouses in the UK The collection, valued at almost 1 million pounds, is due to be sold with the funds to be reinvested back into the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Home Office.